Woolly through an Intern’s Eyes

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has been around for about 30 years now, all under the guidance of beloved artistic director Howard Shalwitz.  His leadership has distinguished the theater as one of the longest lasting contemporary American theaters dedicated to producing some seriously provocative work.  As such, it was my immense pleasure to accept a seven-week internship here at the theater working in the Connectivity Department.  Woolly’s reputation is known far and wide, even reaching to the corners of Vermont, where I have spent the last year and a half in my cozy little liberal arts college.

My experience with Africa has been limited to a bleary-eyed 8am class about its democratization record (spoiler: not stellar).  Imagine my surprise and ultimately, my excitement, when I realized that my internship would essentially revolve around The Convert, a unique play simply by virtue of the fact that it is an African play written by an African woman about African people.  Wait, it gets better – not just a play about African people, but about an African woman. 

Through my work in the Connectivity Department here at Woolly, I have plunged into a deep, refreshing pool of diverse theatre.  The unfortunate reality of being a drama student (and this is anywhere) is that what is often filtered down are the classics—all important, yet all very white.   The unfortunate reality is that not very many stories on the stage have been told about black women – or African women for that matter.  Besides For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Was Enuf, and a few notable others, I’m not sure I can think of many famous shows telling the stories of black women.  And when you broaden the racial scope, you find yourself with even less choices—Hispanic women (West Side Story doesn’t count)?  Asian women?  Arab women?

That’s why I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work at a theater that has the means and the resources to commit to new shows written by women and men who are striving to diversify contemporary theater.  It makes my job at Woolly even more daunting – while the playwrights are aiming to diversify the plays available, my department is essentially aiming to diversify the audience to match the play.

I hope I’ve done the task justice.

-Tenara Calem, Connectivity Intern

Columbia Heights Neighborhood Spotlight

“Columbia Heights does not have technical boundaries, but based on my experience and the different boundaries that do exist for the city, I would argue Columbia Heights is bounded in the south by Florida, the north by Spring Rd, the west by 16^th Street, and the east by Sherman Avenue, maybe Georgia. It gets tricky but it is a nice, neat rectangle.  But names are really contested.  I went to some of the ANC meetings while I was doing my [dissertation] research; there have been fights over the years about getting recognition of a neighborhood to be called something.  For years the people who fought to get Pleasant Plains called ‘Pleasant Plains’ are now being taken up by modern conceptions about what Columbia Heights is, or what Petworth is.”

–       Justin Maher, Ph.D. on the contemporary boundaries of Columbia Heights.

 

A Brief Timeline of Columbia Heights

–       ca 1840: The horse track located on 14^th and Irving, around which Columbia Heights formed, closes. 

–       1871: The area in which Columbia Heights resides officially becomes a part of Washington, DC as part of the DC Organic Act.

–       1881: Former senator from Ohio and real estate investor John Sherman names the 121-acres he purchases “Columbia Heights.” 

–       1902 – 1913: 650 row houses are built by Washington developer Harry Wardman.

–       1924: Tivoli Theatre and Riggs Bank building opens.

–       1936: Meridian Hill Park opens on the grounds that formally housed Columbian College (which became George Washington University).

–       1949: The white Central High School was replaced by the “colored” Cardozo High School due to its low enrollment and the increasing African American population in the city. This was the start of a significant demographic change in Columbia Heights.

–       1950s: Columbia Heights, and surrounding neighborhoods transitioned into a middle-class African American area of Washington, DC.

–       1968: Riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. irreparably damage many buildings.

–       1976: Tivoli Theatre closes.

–       1999: Columbia Heights Metro station opens.

–       2008: Target opens.

 

Ebb and Flow

“Change is what Columbia Heights does best, and every change seems to reflect, in dramatic and exaggerated terms, the state of the city and the city’s most powerful trends.”

–       Washington at Home, “Columbia Heights: Passageway for Urban Change” by Brian Kraft

 

 

 

 

 

 
14^th Street between Irving and Park Road in 1925.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same section of street today.

 

Columbia Heights by the Numbers

“Columbia Heights is one of those rare DC neighborhoods where people of all races, ages, and socioeconomic classes share space, and to many, that – not the revitalized commercial strip – is what gives the community its charm. With the housing market moving slower than its former breakneck pace a few years back, the face of the area might not change drastically in the next few years, but DC neighborhood growth being what it is, it’s unlikely Columbia Heights will stay the same for long. “

– Amanda Abrams, “Columbia Heights: DC’s Most Diverse Neighborhood, But For How Long?,” dc.urbanturf.com

 

DC’s population according to the 2010 census: 601,723

Number of Columbia Heights residents in 2011: 39,000+ within a half-mile of the metro station.

Average number of house holds:  15,164

Average house hold income:  $55,222

 Over 25% of Columbia Heights residents are population is between 20 – 34 years of age.

 

For more information visit our sources:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Columbia_Heights,_Washington,_D.C.

 http://www.wdcep.org/

http://www.columbiaheightsnews.org/About/History.html

http:// dc.urbanturf.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/14/AR2005101400789_pf.html

 

~Rachel Grossman, Connectivity Director